Chapter 3: Lord of the Sea Abyss × Researcher (3)

Ji Qingzhu was indeed not an ordinary person. At such a deep sea, there shouldn't even be any living creatures, yet she saw a living person, and she was somehow able to remain calm.

It wasn't that she wasn't afraid, but she was simply stunned. Her eyes widened as she stared at the beautiful face of the man before her.

For someone who believed in science, encountering something like this was like a dream.

She stood frozen, like a statue.

And the person lying beneath her didn't move either. His chest was pale as jade and rose slightly with each breath.

Yes, he was a breathing creature, but in her shock, Ji Qingzhu hadn't noticed his breath.

Ji Qingzhu didn't move, and neither did he. He just watched her quietly, his gaze cold and inhuman.

After a long while, Ji Qingzhu, realizing he hadn't moved, started to think.

In theory, at such depths in the sea, without any protective measures, there shouldn't be any living people.

Could this person be some sort of lifelike statue? On this sunken ship, perhaps he was just a decoration.

When she fell just now, could it be that she accidentally triggered a mechanism of some sort?

Ji Qingzhu tried to explain the situation based on her knowledge and experience.

She repeated to herself several times, this person is just a statue.

But if he really was a statue, he shouldn't move if she touched him again.

Seemingly to verify her speculation, Ji Qingzhu moved her finger that was pressed against his abdomen. Her fingertip felt the distinct outline of the cold scales.

But in that instant, she felt him tightly grip her hand, the force so strong that it almost snapped her delicate wrist.

Almost instinctively, Ji Qingzhu stuttered, "I-I'm sorry."

She thought, this person seems to be alive. If he's alive, why is he still holding onto her hand, preventing her from moving away from that ambiguous spot?

No, it's too strange to have a living person in this underwater environment!

Her thoughts were in disarray, while the man at the seabed tilted his head, observing Ji Qingzhu.

After a while, he held onto her hand and slowly climbed up. Ji Qingzhu wanted to retract her hand, but she was too weak to struggle.

On her wrist, she wore a crystal containing sealed devil shark pheromones.

This crystal was made of high molecular materials and was securely fixed on her wrist, with exceptional toughness. Even if something cut it underwater, it wouldn't break.

However, Ji Qingzhu watched helplessly as he grabbed her wrist, moved it towards his lips, and lowered his head. His ink-black hair cascaded down and landed in her palm, simultaneously blocking her line of sight.

In the hidden area she couldn't see, he opened his mouth, and his cold lips pressed against her wrist.

Then, with ease, he bit off the bracelet on Ji Qingzhu's wrist.

The broken bracelet was thrown into the sea, and ripples of water followed as it sank to the seabed.

Wide-eyed, Ji Qingzhu realized something was wrong. She was too slow to react to the danger.

When she went underwater this time, she didn't bring any self-defense items because she believed the bracelet would be enough to protect her. She had confidence in her own invention.

But now, who could explain how this person managed to bite through the bracelet?

She had tested it countless times in the laboratory, and even if a hundred devil sharks came to tear at the high molecular materials on the bracelet, it wouldn't be possible to bite through it.

No, more than that, the existence of this person underwater was even more bizarre.

Ji Qingzhu suddenly felt the grip on her wrist loosen, and she quickly pulled her hand back, placing it behind her. However, she forgot one thing - she was being held up by him, and it was his hand that had been supporting her all along. Now that he let go, she lost her support.

In the next moment, Ji Qingzhu fell straight onto his chest, her cheek pressed tightly against his pale skin. She could hear a clear and faint heartbeat. At the same time, the voice of this person finally sounded, "Who are you?"

His voice was pleasing to the ear, like gentle waves caressing the beach. Ji Qingzhu almost lost the ability to think. She wasn't scared right now, she was just... experiencing being so close to someone for the first time.

She actually spoke her name, "Ji Qingzhu." 

Then, she tried to struggle and climb off him. Regardless of who this person was, it was just too... impolite to be in this position. Ji Qingzhu propped herself up, but accidentally brushed against his waist, her palm resting on the rotten wood of the sunken ship. However, the wood quickly broke, causing her body to sway and fall again, her chin hitting his shoulder.

Ji Qingzhu urgently tried to create distance. Despite failing once, she didn't give up and attempted to maintain her balance in this narrow cabin. However, she failed once again. The man beneath her was almost black in the face.

He came to a conclusion - this was an extremely uncoordinated human named Ji Qingzhu. When Ji Qingzhu appeared and still wore the pheromone bracelet, he was puzzled as to why, after thousands of years, even devil sharks had evolved into human form. Now he confirmed that she was just a little lamb in wolf's clothing.

His large palm pressed against her, moving her away slightly. Ji Qingzhu finally used this force to crawl up in front of him. "Thank you," she said, feeling somewhat embarrassed. She raised her hand to adjust her bangs.

"No need to thank me," he replied with a good temper.

He continued to observe her, his gaze solid and substantial, making Ji Qingzhu feel a bit uneasy. She was good at interacting with marine creatures, but not so much with humans. Faced with such a mysterious person, she managed to resist the urge to ask questions.

Ji Qingzhu thought it would be best to find her glasses and pheromone bracelet first. However, the man couldn't hold back and spoke up first, "Aren't you curious about who I am?"

Ji Qingzhu felt around the cabin while answering, "Curious, why can humans survive here?"

The man tilted his head and looked at her. His lower body's dragon tail moved, causing the chain to make a "rustling" sound, as if reminding her. Following the sound, Ji Qingzhu remembered what she had been feeling for earlier - most of his dragon tail was already devoid of flesh and scales, only leaving behind jagged white bones.

What kind of creature was this?

But one thing was certain - he wasn't human.

Not being human made things easier.

Ji Qingzhu, who had felt awkward and shy before because the other party might be a human, turned around and approached him. She asked, "Sir, you're not human, right?"

The man smiled at her, "No, I'm not."

His intoxicating smile and soft voice seemed carefully crafted. If it were a human girl in front of him, she would have already been enchanted by him.

But his deliberate seduction had no effect on Ji Qingzhu, as her gaze had already moved from his incredibly attractive upper body down to his non-human part.

"I've only seen this type of tail in ancient mythological books," Ji Qingzhu took out a flashlight from her pocket and shone it on his dragon tail bones.

The man's upper body couldn't move much now, so he could only allow her to observe in this manner.

"It's not a fish, fish don't have this skeletal structure," Ji Qingzhu's hand behind her twitched restlessly.

"Sir, can I touch it again?" Ji Qingzhu was submissive in front of this non-human being, seeming more lively than when she faced humans.

"No, you can't," the man firmly refused.

"But why is it like this?" Ji Qingzhu carefully studied the patterns on his bones. "It must be uncomfortable to only have bare bones left."

She was immersed in her new discovery, while the man lay half reclined, lazily resting his cheek on his hand as he watched her.

He didn't make any moves, and he hadn't even told Ji Qingzhu his name.

Fortunately, Ji Qingzhu quickly found the sealed inscription in the cabin covered in dust. She brushed away the accumulated dust on the inscription and saw a character, "玉" (yu).

"Yu?" She raised her head and looked back at the man. "Is this your name?"

"Yes," he replied.

"Alright, Mr. Yu," Ji Qingzhu politely said.

"Look closer," he added.

Ji Qingzhu saw more characters on the inscription after wiping it clean. This was his full name - Shen Rongyu, which seemed to be a human name.

She put the inscription back in place, and countless mysteries shrouded her mind. Everything here exceeded her scientific knowledge.

Ji Qingzhu had always stayed in the laboratory, analyzing data and collecting research samples. She wasn't very familiar with fieldwork, especially physical work that required her body's capabilities.

After resigning, she had to handle all these things herself.

As she gathered information in the cabin, she sighed and thought that a few centuries ago, this sunken ship in the depths of the sea would have had great research value. But with the discovery of more habitable planets, the history existing on each planet no longer had such value.

So even if they found something related to human civilization in this abyss, it wouldn't receive much attention.

Ji Qingzhu was astonished by her discoveries today. She sat in a corner, contemplating for a long time before convincing herself that Shen Rongyu, the person with the dragon tail, was someone she needed to communicate with.

She turned her head to look at Shen Rongyu.

Shen Rongyu still lay lazily in the center of the chain, having recently awakened and still adjusting to everything around him.

"Shen... Mr. Shen?" Ji Qingzhu tentatively called him.

"Hmm?" He smiled and raised his head, his pitch-black hair falling from his cheek. His complexion was pale, but his appearance remained breathtaking.

"How did you end up here?" Ji Qingzhu asked, hoping to gather some information.

"I just woke up and don't know anything," he said with a shallow smile, his words carrying a bewitching power.

"It's okay, I think I can find the answers," Ji Qingzhu herself was also exploring the secrets of the Night Abyss. She thought that perhaps the Night Abyss was related to the "Mr. Shen" in front of her.

"Can you come out?" she asked.

"No, I can't," his tone was indifferent.

The chains that extended throughout the entire abyss trapped him completely, and the one Ji Qingzhu accidentally broke was insignificant.

Ji Qingzhu lowered her head and recorded what Shen Rongyu said.

He asked, "Are you recording what I'm saying?"

Without lifting her head, Ji Qingzhu replied, "Yes, Mr. Shen."

"I am your research subject, just like the things in the long glass tubes in your pocket?" he licked his lips and asked.

Ji Qingzhu's recording pen stopped.

After a long time, she nodded, "Yes."